If anything sets the mood of a superhero piece, its the theme song and many of the great superheroes on television or the movies have one. Batman and Spider-Man are two of the most iconic superheroes ever created and have rarely confronted each other but a recent video posted online has proved that Batman has indeed been defeated by Spider-Man in an epic music battle for the ages.
The Batman performer is shown playing the 1966 Batman theme song originally composed by Neal Hefti although the usual eleven "Batman!" cries are replaced by a guttural declaration of "Batman!" that sounds more in line with Christian Bale's performance in Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. He plays the song on a red acoustic guitar on the sidewalk as passerby's on bikes greet him and laugh at his performance. But before you think of putting some money in his tip jar, someone comes by and just blows his performance right out the water.
The Dark Knight is barely able to get out two " Batman" when a Spider-Man cosplayer rolls in on a unicycle blasting his theme song, the theme from the 1967 Spider-Man cartoon originally composed by Paul Francis Webster and Robert "Bob" Harris. The Ol' Webhead goes around and around the Dark Knight who continues to strumming his guitar but Sixties Gotham surf music cannot compete against an arachnid themed NY-style bagpipes that at one point spewed fire. Who knew ol' Peter Parker was so multi-talented?
As if the defeat isn't enough of a humiliation for the famous DC character, the triumphant wall-crawler completes his victory by spraying Batman with a hail of webbing, to which the frustrated Caped Crusader yells "OH COME ON!" The crowd's laughter is a clear sign who the real winner was that day, and we've yet to hear if a new DC vs. Marvel battle will soon be approved.
Whether it was staged or not, this entire video was hilarious from beginning to end with both performers committing to the role right down to Batman's bright yellow utility belt and Spidey's toy web-shooter. The performers stick to what their audiences know, leaning on musical nostalgia, and then escalating it with instrumental warfare in a manner that you could only find on the Internet. While Batman is known for coming out on top of most situations, it would appear that all of Bruce's training and skill could not prepare him for what Spider-Man had up his sleeve. Cheer up Bats, it could have been worse, you could have lost to Deadpool.